'Joe the Plumber' is a no-show at a McCain Ohio rally

Although it might seem like Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher is everywhere these days, he wasn't at John MCain's rally this morning in the small town of Defiance, Ohio.

Except that nobody told the Republican presidential nominee that.

And so, in the midst of his speech, McCain called out to Wurzelbacher, as he often does on the campaign trail.

“Joe’s with us today," McCain told an audience of about 6,000 people. "Joe where are you? Where is Joe? Is Joe with us today?” he asked.

When Joe failed to appear, an awkward silence settled over the crowd.

Then McCain, politician that he is, made lemonade out of lemons. "All right," he told the crowd. "Well, you’re all Joe the Plumbers, so all of you stand up!" 

-- Kate Linthicum

Probably Joe was off reading the latest Ticket item, which you can now register for automatic alerts to your cellphone by going here.

Comments

[john]

Look at the pathetic loser trying to smile - he knows he will be beaten by a mile on election day. The results will tell it all

[qgp]

This is really simple: Do you want the country to be run like the McCain campaign, or like Obamas?

[RABO]

Joe the plumber is a FRAUD.

[Ronald Sampson]

Joe (Sam?) the Loser. He's had his fifteen minutes of fame. 14 minutes more than he deserved. What a con man.

[Clyde]

You're all Joe the Plumbers! LOL! Pretty embarrassing for McCain, and quite insulting to those poor kids who were pulled from school and bussed over to the rally in the cold. Seeing that Joe has been working illegally as an unlicensed, unregistered plumber and that he owed back taxes from 2006, I'm not sure why the Senator would be badmouthing his rally crowd with such a lousy comparison.

[Andrea]

Hi haters,
Joe the Plumber did show later on, if you watched FoxNews you would have had an accurate report of it. Poor people, don't you ever feel bad being taken for fools all the time?

[chitown]

John McCain is being used by Sarah Palin for possibly a run at the White House and now by joe the bummer tisk tisk. lol

[Brian]

Since Obama's MO is to start applying for his next job as soon as he gets one, what's next for him come January 20th, Pope?

[Faye]

Joe was fixing a sink somewhere

[Rich]

Joe couldn't make it to McCain's rally today in Defiance ~ he's working on his booking arrangements for his new celebrity status. I can't wait for this nonsense to be over with ~ wait for the Republican blame game lurching into high gear starting next Wednesday!

[steve]

Even Joe the Plumber has jumped ship as the SS Straight Talk Express SINKS

[Ryan]

There was a fake plumber named Joe, he was just all flash and no show, back taxes abound, no license to be found, said "So long John McCain....Where's my dough?"

[Tony]

To poster "John",

Truth is, neither you nor your fantasy candiate buddy Osama Obama, are fit to tie the mans bootlaces. If Obama wins (supported endlessly by the left-leaning media), I'll be ashamed of what this country has become. Still hope remains high that "media darling" Obama will self-destruct quickly enough that four years will fly by. Can you dig that "John"?

[kurt remmers]

Joe is not who McCain says he is.
Facts:
He is not a licensed plumber.
He only makes $40,000 a year.
He lied about buying a plumbing company (he dosen't have the money or the brains or the drive)
Obama told him he would not be taxed additionally unless he made over $250,000 gross salary. Then, his taxes would only go up another 3%.
Joe is a sad commentary on our working class. And. . .
he lies like the republican presidential and Vice Presidential candidates. PERFECT FIT.

[sd-mouth]

This "Joe the Plumber" character has such shoddy credit from owing back taxes that he doesn't have a prayer in hell of getting a loan for that plumbing business. Besides, he is NOT licensed and needs that. Had the RNC given him Sarah's clothing allowance, he could have paid those taxes to Ohio and then gone to school for the license. Then, he could even get his contractor's license to boot.
This is such a pathetic attempt at making contact with delusional people.

[Joey]

McCain/Palin are pathetic. "Joe the plumber" is a symbol of their desperate campaigns. What losers!

[Larry in NC]

I heard that JTP was having a sit with Harvey Weinstein to pitch a screenplay that he wrote overnight. After that, he's getting on a plane to Rome to await the outcome of the Vatican conclave to have Joe replace Pope Benedict. His publicist said "We know it breaks 2000 years of Catholic tradition to replace a Pope before he dies, but Joe the Plumber's rapid rise in esteem makes him uniquely qualified to guide the worldwide Catholic flock. John McCain will just have to wait his turn."

[Leo]

Andrea, so what if Joe Blow showed up later? That didn't make Gramps look any less pathetic when he was calling for him like he had lost his faithful puppy.

[David]

Poor Sen. McCain,

Why is he torturing himself, and his rich wife, just retire

and enjoy the 8 (known )homes and 13+ (known) automobiles and the butlers, maids, servents, cooks
gardeners, but he probably signed a pre-nup
and his wife has all the $$.

This Joe the Plumber will be laughed about for years

At least he is not from Cleveland Ohio, where Talk
still come up about the river that caught on fire, The Mayor (Mayor Perk)
whose hair caught on fire visiting a Steel mill and
the city that defaulted into bankcrupty under Dennis
Kucinich plus the overnight move out of the Cleveland
Browns to Baltimore orchestrated by Art Model
on Al Lerner's private jet in a airplane hanger then flew
off to Baltimore for a next day press conferanace.
"Say it ain't so Joe or Phil or Bill (whatever the non-plumber's real name is) maybe he is a GOP plant
or a Socialist or a all the filth the GOP has flung
at Senator Oboma. So Sad to see John McCain's
so Dramatic fall from (somewhat grace) to a down right
evil tongued monger of hate, lies, and kill the poor
mentality.

David
(and I have voted!)

[keelay]

Joe the Plumber went along with Sen. McCain for the ride and thus deserves the scrutiny he has brought upon himself -- along with the certain backlash that follows when folks figure out he is not all that Sen McCain puts him up to be. Nonetheless, the demeaning and vitriolic comments made on these blogs about Sen McCain and Mr. Joe must be from really sorry folks. Senator McCain is good man who has served his country with honor both in the military and in politics. Just because he holds differing political views or that he will likely lose this election to a stronger candidate is no reason to denigrate him.

[Joe]

O.K. so Joe showed up. It still was goofy of him to ask for someone who was not there. Also, there were only 6,000 people there. 4,000 of them were kids that were bused in from schools so that McCain would not be talking to a small crowd.

[Tom]

Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher is a tax dodger. Why anyway should he represent the poor Republicans? Patriotic Republicans regardless of their economic status are paying their taxes. so should be Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher for what he owes his state. Possibly he will get a job at one of McCain's houses.

[NinaK]

Well, John McCain knows how to pick his surrogates: dumb and dumber. Give Sarah Palin a buzz cut and you have the Joe the Plumber and Sarah tha Palin' twins. Sarah, earlier today, said she just does "not understand why women don't like her and why others don't think she is qualified for veep"!! That's not all that Sarah Palin does NOT understand!!! She does not understand the vice president's duties, the Unitied States Constitution, the lower 48 states and Hawaii. She does not understand we are all Americans who love our country and who are very patriotic----remember how we all came together after 911?? We did so because we love our country and we love our counrymen/women/children/everyone! Sarah has identified "pockets" of America as "Pro-America", "Real America" and "the best part of America". Where does that leave the other milliions of Americans that she has thrown under the bus?? Sarah Palin does not know Senator Obama, yet, she feels free to demoralize him and tear him apartj!! There is a whole lot Sarah Palin does NOT understand, she has no idea what foreign policy experience is, she thinks being able to see Russia in the distance from Alaska gives her the needed foreigh policy experience to be veep. She cannot recall names of magazines and newspapers she has read.....I would say Sarah has had very little interest in the world outside of Wasilla and Juneau Alaska. Misinformed, Uninformed, and Unqualified to run for veep. McCain wasn't thinking "country first" when he chose her, heck he didn't even know her!! Met her once and fell in love with Sarah the woman, nevermind her lack of knowledge, world events, etc. McCain = poor judgement, rash decision making, erratic, and a slanderer!

[NinaK]

Joe the Plumber was trying to clear the toilet drain on McCain's plain because McCain's depends accidently got flushed down the drain in his (McCain's) haste!

[Helen the Homeschooler]

Tony.... YIKES the sky is falling!!!! NOT! Do you actually believe that Obama (if he wins) wants to just be a one term Pres? He will run to the middle and cross party lines to get the job done. I'm sick of Republican touting the SAME old scare tactics, and then not saying what they would do to fix ANYTHING( only that "If you don't vote for me something bad may happen " OOOH scary.) The Party (Republican Party) is over. You've had your chance and screwed it up royally. So let someone in there who will fix this mess.